...various other thoughts on sports, politics and whatever else is new in my life.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Response to the Hansbrough Comments

It was interesting to be listed on the campus links section on cnnsi.com. I definitely enjoyed the increased traffic even though it looks like from the comments not many people agreed with my “Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Dislike Tyler Hansbrough.” Here is my quick rebuttal:

-Some of the points on the list where jokes. I guess the jokes don’t come as well when someone is fired up about someone insulting their favorite player.

-No, I couldn’t beat Tyler Hansbrough in a 1 on 1 game. Not that I am a sportswriter, but I don’t think many sportswriters are better than the athletes they critique. Just because you can’t throw a football like Brett Farve doesn’t mean you can’t comment on him as a player.

-I shouldn’t have brought up the Gerald Henderson incident. There is no way of rationally bringing that up to a Duke or Carolina fan because both sides have already made up their mind on that point.

-I loved watching JJ Redick play basketball. Most people couldn’t stand him. By just posting his name once I got two responses that challenged his skill level/accomplishments. I think everyone just needs to calm down about Redick.

-To Dan’s comment: I spent less 2 hours coming up with the finding the videos and pictures, coming up with the list, and posting it on my blog. Unfortunately my job doesn’t let me take a month off to work on posts.

-Final rebuttal to Dan’s comment: I do think you make a good point on the “reason why you don’t win games” is because of 1 person. I shouldn’t fault Tyler Hansbrough alone for not succeeding in a tournament that is the definition of a small sample size. I agree with you on that point.

-You can’t argue with the fact that Tyler Hansbrough is not projected to be a good professional player. UNC fans usually hold the lack of success in the Nba (see Christian Laettner, Danny Ferry, etc) against Duke, so I just flipped it around on Hansbrough. The truth of the matter is for better or worse Tyler Hansbrough is a good college basketball player and will be a terrible pro. I think most Duke fans would agree they would rather see more Brandon Wrights (one and done) than Tyler Hansbrough’s (4 years) of the world.

-Don’t post anonymous. If you are a UNC fan you should be proud of your school and your comments.PBrooks - #1 preseason ranking means nothing. Believe me I like Duke and they have been preseason #1 many times.I can get tickets the Dean Dome a lot easier than Cameron. Also, why did you put YOU in all upper case letters? All it made me think of was the chorus of “Crank That.”

-I have read many books on Carolina and Duke basketball history. Believe it or not both teams sometimes lose.

-JOKE: Did Carolina steal the old Raiders motto of “Just Win, Baby” and I just didn’t know it?

-I don’t think Michael Jordan is the best player ever. I would rather have Bill Russell if I was starting a team.

Just in case all the posters were curious I have multiple family members who are proud UNC graduates. The posting is all in good fun. I hate writing this, but I respect UNC, the basketball program, and their history. Chapel Hill is one of the best college cities I have ever seen. That being written I am a loyal Duke fan who loves hating UNC

3 comments:

Ok- so here's the issue I have with your post and the issue that much of Tarheel Nation likely shares. Tyler is a kid who is doing it right. (i.e. not driving drunk and turning his car around when he sees a DUI checkpoint).

He takes care of himself. (nobody else has a more elaborate pregame warmup routine involving flexibility work---and the psycho T thing came from how hard he works in the weightroom.

He plays hard.

He's developing his game, not just relying on what got him where he is.

He has clear goals, hence the third year in college when he'd have been a lottery pick last year.

There are a lot of real sh*tbirds in college basketball to call out for being ridiculous. Tyler is not one of them. So for you to go after someone who is dominant but not much of a media presence and not a very vocal player to begin with, might be viewed as inappropriate, perhaps even ignorant.

Rasheed Wallace deserves a top 10 list from a Duke fan. Maybe Rashad McCants. Even Matt Doherty (especially Matt Doherty, ok). But Tyler? Come on, dude. You were reaching with that one.

He'll be a fine NBA player, nothing spectacular, but certainly a breath of fresh air in a league where 82 nights a year guys take 45 of 48 minutes off from any real exertion of themselves.

K-Money, rather than taking time to gallivant around Europe you could use your vacation days to do something productive... like spend more than 2 hours putting your blog spots together. Really. Just an idea. Take it for what you will.